Past Political Predicaments and Pushing Towards Positivity and Peace On The Prairie

Field of Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed) and a freight in our dolomite prairie labeled as our Exxon site due to it being crammed between an Exxon refinery and intermodal train center

As I start to write this second blog post while sitting outside the office the Midewin ambience buzzes around me. Surrounding the main office is a cow pasture allotment ( One of the 50 or so lots we graze cattle on, for forest service profit), the cow pasture is an ecological refuge compared to the grotesque development encroaching the land adjacent to us. To the south, not far at all, I can sometimes get a whiff of Prairie View Landfill and the Exxon refinery to the north. Prairie View Landfill gives Illinois’ usually flat landscape some more intriguing topography, although it is probably not a fair trade for the smell of garbage. Surrounding Midewin is a plethora of warehouses, row crops (mostly corn and soy), suburban sprawl, parking lots, and industrial parks. I don’t mean to set the tone for pessimistic attitudes but I wanted to lay out the visual scene for people who are unfamiliar with Illinois and it’s unique approach to biosphere collapse. The prairie is rich with biodiversity and compared to the sterile conservative approach to landscaping and land management here in the Midwest, the prairie feels like a coral reef or an exotic land full of life.

Midwest storm rolling in over Prairie Glacial Plains
Impatiens canadensis ( Jewelweed/ Touch-Me-Not)

 Living here all my life for 21 years I am astonished that is has taken me this long to truly experience the prairie, some residents here have never even seen one. The power struggle dynamics and lack of political will within the mission here can be quite saddening. I am glad a small number of people truly do put their heart and soul into the goal of bringing the prairie back. The integrity and strength to keep pushing for what’s right even when it seems like nobody understands what we are loosing and what we have already lost. It surprises me that a lot of people will know more about environmental issues across the world(Amazon rainforest) but they won’t be aware of any habitat loss of local ecosystems. Not to say we shouldn’t advocate for protection of land everywhere ( these things are not mutually exclusive) but I believe all ecosystems are equal in the grand scheme of things. The prairie and it’s hard working plants sequester tons of carbon and helps put organic matter back into the soil. How do we get people to care about native ecosystems if they haven’t even seen one in the first place? What type of incentives can we practice either personally or politically that would engage people in nature and ecology more? That being said I think even the people making insensitive decisions on the top of Exxon may not be complete demons, just confused, very very confused, human beings. I believe educating people, while remaining open and compassionate, is absolutely essential for restoration and native plant efforts. We can only move forward as much as we ALL move forward, and it’s hard not to get angry with the way things are and the lack of care from the general public. But I believe things will get better and people are increasingly more interested in learning when the opportunity presents itself.

I am very grateful for all the fellow CLM interns, it gives me comfort and restores some sanity knowing there are other people that feel passionate about native plants. Each one of the other interns is uniquely clever, intelligent, funny, and warm hearted and I couldn’t have asked for a better team:)

Female Clouded Sulphur (Colias philodice) on Liatris spp.
“Scrap” full of Silphium terebinthinaceum (PRAIRIE DOCK)
Delaware Skipper Anatrytone logan
Trailing fuzzy bean (Strophostyles helvola)

Pulse of the Prairie

Being at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie the past month has been a beautiful experience and I’m stoked to continue this journey. Growing up all my life only about 30 minutes north of here I was shocked that I had never heard about this place until just less than a couple of years ago. The prairie is such an intoxicating space of biodiversity and natural ecology running its course. The plethora of colors and smells as you walk through the ever growing tall matrix of forbs and grasses, most of which has been rapidly growing taller and taller within the last few hot summer weeks. 

Sand Ridge on the west side of Midewin.

I am super grateful to have had this opportunity to put work into something truly rewarding for myself, others, and the environment. All across the world we deal with ecosystems struggling for stability due to development and agriculture. More recently within the last year, learning native plants has been an eye-opener. Driving down streets I used to think were beautiful due to the oceans of green around me now I see degradation and a lack of native vegetation, a heavy reminder of how severe this issue really is. Now I see areas that are graveyards of past fauna and flora of this land, truly realizing the scale of degradation of the natural ecosystem of my home state. Nonetheless, there is hope. Parts of Midewin serve as a sanctuary for what Illinois should look like, or will look like, providing habitat for a variety of plants and animals.

Touching the leaf of Silphium terebinthinaceum (Prairie Dock), the leaf feels cold to the touch due to the xylem plant tissue pumping cold water through the leaf, the tap root of this Silphium can grow longer than 14 feet deep!!
Midewin CLM Crew! Grateful to be working with passionate, dedicated, and knowledgeable native seed collectors.
Opuntia cespitosa (Eastern Pricklypear) growing on a area of exposed Dolomite bedrock, this rare unique ecosystem is called the Dolomite Prairie and it is home to some pretty special native plants

Even though most prairies in Illinois deal a lot with invasive species it in turn causes native plants to be precious gemstones of the prairie. We have to be grateful for what we have left and look forward to the future of protecting these plants and natural areas and spreading the scientific ecological message through compassion and understanding. Midewin is unique in the sense of conservation due to most of the project being a complete reconstruction. It is true there are remnant  “ scraps” ( Soil tilled over and moved) that contain a native seed bank. But for the most part Midewin is a restoration project, so most of the native plants there have been seeded in since the late 90s. 

Platanthera leucophaea (Prairie White Fringed Orchid)
Silphium laciniatum (Compass Plant) and Eryngium yuccifolium (Rattlesnake Master)

Midewin was home to pre colonial indigenous tribes, then it was plowed when settlers moved westward. Then in the 1940s the government bought out all the property and made it the Joliet Arsenal which was active up until the end of the Vietnam war. Midewin land has had so many lives run their course in its presence and I think the land carries all of this with it both physically and metaphorically. In Illinois less than 0.01% of the original 21 million acres of prairie remains, less than 2,300 acres. On the bright side, since 1996 Midewin members of the forest service, partner organizations and volunteer groups have been able to restore roughly 6,000 acres of native vegetation, this includes tall grass prairies, sedge meadows, a variety of wetlands, a sand ridge, and oak savannas. It is such a satisfying feeling going into work for the day knowing what you are doing is making a positive impact outside of a profit incentive. I understand that the prairie and wetlands here are not going to look like they did 400 years ago but I think restoration is truly a positive step in the right direction with the right planning and ecological intentions, always asking questions and having awareness of the long term effect of influencing the natural world. 

Dalea purpurea (Purple Prairie Clover) leaves have a very ocean salt like smell to them
Epargyreus clarus (Silver-Spotted Skipper)
Amorpha canescens (Lead Plant)
Desmanthus illinoensis (Illinois Bundleflower/Prairie Mimosa)
Dalea purpurea (Purple Prairie Clover)

Peril on the Prairie

A sedge meadow at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie

Oh, the prairie, what a thing to behold! Grass swaying in the breeze, bees buzzing, birds chirping, maybe a nearby summer storm rolling in over the horizon. What do you feel looking at this photo? Tranquility, serenity, a sense of times gone by? Unfortunately, this peaceful facade conceals something more sinister. The seldom spoken truth is that the prairie is a place of unimaginable danger. As someone from the Sonoran desert, I thought we had it bad with all the spiny plants and rattlesnakes but at least our threats make themselves obvious. Needless to say, I was not prepared for the inconspicuous terrors that awaited me at Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie.

TOP 3 PRAIRIE PERILS 

#1) TICKS

Disgusting. Terrible. Evil. Awful. There are no good adjectives to describe ticks. I have yet to find a tick on my person, but I know that eventually my luck has to run out and I rue the day that it does. They take the #1 spot because I really do not want Lyme disease or Rocky Mountain spotted fever! It’s pretty straightforward, they’re just plain gross.

#2) WILD PARSNIP (Pastinaca sativa)

This could be a very cool plant if you don’t think about how annoying it is. If your skin brushes up against wild parsnip it causes a reaction called phytophotodermatitis, which means that the affected area will develop blisters and burns when exposed to sunlight. I unfortunately experienced this first-hand, but I have to admit that I was a little impressed.

#3) HEMLOCK

Midewin has 2 varieties of hemlock; the very same poison hemlock (Conium maculatum) that did Socrates in way back when, and water hemlock (Cicuta maculata). According to the USDA, “water hemlock is the most violently toxic plant that grows in North America.” However, it only comes in at #3 because you actually have to ingest it for it to kill you. The point is, you probably shouldn’t put any random Apiaceae in your mouth.

Of course I’m kidding! So far my time at Midewin has been fun and informative, it is so different from Arizona but I’m enjoying the experience of being somewhere entirely new. Here are some things I’ve especially appreciated.

TOP 3 PLEASANT PRAIRIE THINGS

#1) FALL-OFF-THE-BONE SEDGES

You know that Carex are ready for seed collection when you can run the inflorescence through your fingers and the perigynia fall out like tender barbecue falls off the bone. It is so satisfying but maybe less tasty than actual barbecue.

#2) – COOL SEEDS

Wild Hyacinth (Camassia scilloides) seeds are small, shiny, black spheres that glisten like a beetle’s shell would. The seeds rattle cheerfully in the dry inflorescence so if someone wanted a makeshift maraca they might try visiting Midewin in June.

Camassia scilloides seeds

#3) – KILLDEER (Charadrius vociferus)

They’re funny! So far I haven’t been able to get close enough for a good photo or video but I will keep trying.

To close things out I’m including a relevant poem, this might be how I conclude every blog post but I haven’t quite decided. Check back next month to see if I keep this up, I guess! I hope all the interns elsewhere are having a good time.

Grass in the Wind by Herman Reinstein

Reinstein, H. (1932). Grass in the Wind. Poetry, 40(6), 312–312. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20578676

The Hempstead Plains – Remnants of a Relic

Credit: Long Island Pine Barrens Society

A map of the ecosystems historically shaped by fire on Long Island

In addition to the Atlantic Coastal Pine Barrens which have been shaped by fire ecology, there is another, lesser known climax ecosystem that still exists in small remnants in the Eastern U.S. It is known at the Atlantic Coastal Prairie, Sand Plains, Dry Tall Grass Prairie, etc. These semi-arid habitats are characterized by their poor sandy soils and their need for fire regimes (and now mowing). They are home to threatened and endangered species, including Agalinus acuta (sandplain gerardia), and were once home to a now extinct species of grouse known as the Heath Hen (Tympanuchus cupido var. cupido) (Palkovacs et al., 2004).

The extinct Heath Hen (Tympanuchus cupido var. cupido)

The endangered Sand Plain Gerardia (Agalinus acuta). The Hempstead Plains has at least 2 of the only 11 populations worldwide.

These unique eastern dry prairies still exist in isolated patches in New England and Long Island. The one I am most familiar with is the Hempstead Plains, the only naturally occurring prairie east of the Appalachian Mountains (Neidich and Kennelly, 2014). There is only around 100 acres left of the 60,000- 40,000 acres that existed prior to colonization. Since colonization, the plains have been used for farming and urban development. This has disturbed fragile topsoil crust and allowed woody and invasive plants to encroach on the grasslands. Once an important flyway for birds, the plains still serve as a home and migration stop for: wild pheasant, fox, orchard orioles, monarch butterflies, fritillaries, meadowlark, and others.

Credit: Harper 1911

These Plains were once a vast expanse.

The Hempstead Plains exist in a highly populated county directly adjacent to the burrow of Queens in New York City. Due to their close proximity to this metropolitan area, the flat land was prime for early urban sprawl developments. However, this also made them a good place for New York City botanists to study the unique flora assemblages, and there are botanical records going back over 100 years.They all noted the rapid disappearance of the ecosystem (Harper, 1911).

A Satellite image of Garden City, NY. The red pin is the site of the managed remnant of the Hempstead Plains. The green area just south of the pins is a larger, unmanaged portion. The green area to the east are golf courses that also contain grassland remnants.

The history of the development of these plains is an interesting one. They were once a commons grazing area for sheep. Years later, they were bought by a wealthy department store owner who opened golf courses, polo fields, and race tracks to entice other wealthy people to move to the area. Then, during the early 20th century they served as a major airfield where Charles Lindberg began the first Trans-Atlantic flight.

The Plains have been subject to unrelenting development up unto the 1970’s when a large stadium was built, and the community college was expanded. In 1991, 16.3 continuous acres were put under the management of a non-profit, Friends of the Hempstead Plains, for the purpose of education and preservation. Since the founding of the organization, both students and experienced botanists have conducted experiments regarding the specific plants that grow in these particularly dry soils. The unique soils are characterized by their upper lichen-moss covered crust, and well-drained, dark horizons above glacial out-wash. The Nature Conservancy carried out multiple controlled burns in the 1990’s in order to restore balance to the scarred and trampled remnant.

Black and white film prints of the Nature Conservancy controlled burns in the 1990s

Other, largely unmanaged portions are present on a nearby golf course, and across a highway from the managed parcel. It was on this county owned unmanaged preserve where a recent 5 acre wild fire occurred in 2016, causing a more blue curls and toad flax to bloom in 2017. This was where I found two species I was searching for to collect for a restoration project, Andropogon virginicus and Schizachryum scoparium. Although these species are extremely common, I needed to find them in this specific eco-region. As I mentioned before, this county is adjacent to New York City, highly developed and populated, so finding a wild population was not a walk in the park.

Prairie Three-awn (Aristida oligantha) growing through the cracks of an old airstrip.

I also collected an annual grass, Oligantha aristida  (Prairie Three-awn). This grass was growing between old slabs of asphalt and little blue stem. Talk about a tough little grass!

One of the many massive dumping sites within the unmanaged preserve.

As I walked through this rare piece of green space, in the center of a bustling city, I was disturbed by the utter neglect of management by the county. There are obviously ongoing problems of homelessness, off-roading,  and dumping. I couldn’t help but notice the irony that in the shadow of a huge hotel, there are people living in tents.

Friends of the Hempstead Plains at Nassau Community College Manages 19 acres of this rare Habitat

Compared to the tall grass prairie preserves out west this is a tiny swath of land. Some might question what the point of conserving such a small amount of land really is. In the middle of a metropolitan area, this natural landscape can teach so many people about the native flora and the history of the area. I for one got my start within the botanical field volunteering on this preserve. Now after seeing dozens of different habitats throughout the Mid-Atlantic and mainland U.S., I can tell how unique a place the Hempstead Plains really is.

To learn more about this grassland, go to Friendsofhp.org